Chris Manning of Urlesque deconstructed the rapid ascent of Super Junior member Kim Hee Chul from K-pop idol to Twitter superstar (Kim’s name, relatively unknown by most American audiences, became a trending topic for nearly a week, as recently as this morning), which has even inadvertently placed him in a media battle with Twitter’s crowned pretty-boy prince, Justin Bieber.

According to Manning, it all began when Kim tweeted Uface sketches of himself and other K-pop notables, which fans quickly gobbled up like banchan. The blogs took notice and hyped up the chatter. Kim knew he was onto something good, so he stepped up his game: replying, retweeting, taking his act to Facebook. And then people that didn’t even know who or what he was began to notice, many tweeting about the fact that they didn’t even know who or what he was. And so Kim rose to the top. This is the science of social networking, people! You can’t make this shit up.

To think, it all began with a sketch.

We love that Super Junior fans (E.L.F.s) are having their day in the sun, and Kim is likely to enjoy heightened name recognition from here on out! And to think, it all began with a sketch.